We are back from a Memorial Day getaway for little Harlow’s first birthday! What a grand time we had, even though the weather was deplorable– rain and more rain. Of course, not much sewing happened– but I can still talk about what’s arriving in my mailbox lately and we’ll save the party pictures for last.

My second Sew Sampler box after renewing arrived in my absence! I’m not sure why I signed up for this again except what is wrong with getting a quilt-y surprise box in the mail each month. I didn’t end up using my three Honeyed Horizon charm packs, but at least I did empty the box and sort everything into my sewing room.

Charm packs are my favorite precut, and I always think I will just sew the 5×5 squares into something wonderful, or make an entire pack into HSTs, but I had time for neither.

This month’s box was a tad more to my liking. We received a small layer cake of Tula Pink’s new Floral reef collection and a pattern I really like. A huge roll of foundation triangle paper was included to help make the quilt.

There was also this fabulous thick book of star patterns–
I love stars.

There are over 100 star blocks with different block sizes and yardage calculations!

I went back and bought the quilt finishing kit for over $90. Although I have no business adding new quilts to my list, it does look like an opportunity for a ton of chain piecing, and I’m wondering if I could knock it out in my next sit ‘n sew day later in June. I do love the summery look and it reminds me of my mom’s beach house all those years ago.

In each sampler box, there is a block-of-the-month design. You can then either buy Fat Quarter Shop’s fabric kit or just use your own stash. The descent into the hole of chicken quilts is well overdue for me, and I bought more yardage from this collection and a cute panel I thought I would use– it is Henhouse by Ginghiber.

Now that we have the second block, I’m not really digging it– someone mistakenly showed the finish on the website and I didn’t love it either. I could use my star block pattern book? So, I’d love to just improv a block each month, but this idea better take flight soon or like a chicken, it will not get far off the ground.

Then this came in– I am kind of embarrassed about it!

I had this vintage moo cow panel my mom bought me in the early 70s– and I stitched it up and stuffed it myself! It was one of my favorite stuffed animals– the ear was under stuffed and was a bit floppy– so cute. I didn’t know my cow’s name was Minnie, and I’m pretty sure I called it “Mooklie.” Mooklie mysteriously disappeared when I left for college. 🤣 I do remember not listening to my mom when she asked me to clean out my old room. But thanks to the magic of eBay– MOOKLIE LIVES! (I ask myself, which is worse? Being the person who looks for and buys this thing, or being the person who kept it uncut in their attic for 55 years?) Here’s the back:

I make no apologies for being a sentimental soul, and I’d love to make this the center of say, a County Fair block quilt.

I already have my eye on the Mind’s Eve Star Spangled Garden Garden fabric coming next February, and the free Moda Summer in the Country stitch-a-long blocks they did a few years ago. I missed out because we were moving.

This was the quilt that my friend Nicole lost in the mail and I feel very badly for her, so it would be a very healing thing to make on many fronts. Next summer, maybe? Just look at this prize winning jam block! Here’s a link if you are interested in this quilt along from a few summers ago:

/https://my.modafabrics.com/tags/summer-country

Will my new Mooklie remain unsewn for the next 55 year? I’d say it’s possible!

I’m about to throw Posh Penelope on the longarm, and wouldn’t you know, Sew Kind of Wonderful makes a matching longarm ruler for their Quick Curve designs, too. I’m great at ruler work, so this seems like a no-brainer to make it easier.

Backing fabric and Glide thread are ready to go! I’m going to try this weekend to get as close to finished on that quilt as I can and on the longarm mid-week no later– do or die! Come back next week for the finished top photo– I will say– it is STUNNING. I noticed you can sneak peak it behind my Henhouse panel in the photo above.

Finally, I purchased these foundation triangle papers that have been sitting looking at me near the cash register of my Local Sewing Store for quite a while. Have you seen them?

One of the store’s sample makers made all of them out of a Christmas charm pack, and it was charming, to be sure. I have a box of charm packs, and I picked this pretty Daybreak collection I had from before the move. It is by Three Sisters– for lush, lovely, traditional fabrics, I think they take the cake!

Some of these tiny blocks are intense though. They finish at 3″ and some have 14 or 15 pieces. Maybe I limit the project to what I can accomplish in one day?

At the end of June, we’re six months into the year and I’m going to go back to my January 1st post and see how I’m doing with goals. I have been super focused on just a few things which are getting a bit boring, I admit. I really want that Candy Cane Lane quilt finished by the end of the year.

Here’s a few snaps of the big FIRST BIRTHDAY party– can you imagine being one year old?

I think Harlow is starting to bond with grandma– or the lady who lets her play with her phone and glasses as she probably knows me. She even let me rock her asleep twice– precious moments, for this grandma. I made another banner!

We are having a bit of a baby boom here– it was announced that Harlow will be a big sister in November! I can’t believe it– but this sewing grandma will never run out of quilt ideas for my sweet family.

xox
Carol